St Christopher's Home for Little Children, 'Clifton', Lochinvar, 1 December 1928, courtesy of Newcastle Cultural Collections.
Details
St Christopher's Home for Little Children was established by Anglican Diocese of Newcastle in 1928, with they day to day operations of the Home initially overseen by the Sisters of the Community of the Holy Name in 1928. It was located at Lochinvar in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales in a house called Clifton. It housed children aged one to six. In 1937 the Church Army took over day to day operations until 1958, after which time staffing was provided direct by the Diocese. St Christopher's Home moved to Taree in 1956. It closed in 1978.
The house Clifton was given to the Newcastle Diocese in 1927 by Mr Ernest Clift for use in connection with the work for children, together with an endowment of £300 per annum.
St Christopher's Home for Little Children was officially opened on 1 December 1928, but was open to receive children from 1 September of that year. Children were aged from birth to six years. Once they reached the age of six boys were sent to St Alban's Boys' Home and girls were sent to St Elizabeth's Girls' Home.
In 1938 an Aboriginal woman, Muriel Stanley, was brought to St Christopher's from Yarrabah Mission in Central Australia to train as a Church Army sister.
St Christopher's was relocated to new premises at Taree, which were officially opened on 18 March 1956. The Home at Taree closed on 31 December 1978.
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Home given to Church', 3 December 1928, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/16513996; 'Aboriginal Girl as Missionary: First to be trained by Church', Singleton Argus, 4 November 1938, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/81921457; 'St Alban's Muswellbrook', The Muswellbrook Chronicle, 28 August 1942, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/107694611; 'Wealthy Man's Estate: Generous Gifts to Charities', 18 October 1946, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/27907582; Hanson, Dallas, Why are they in children's homes: report of the ACOSS children's home intake survey, Australian Department of Social Services: Australian Council of Social Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1979, 83 pp; 'Our History', in Anglicare NSW South, NSW West & ACT, Anglicare NSW South, NSW West & ACT, https://www.anglicare.com.au/about-us/our-history/; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf; Information provided by custodian of Newcastle Diocesan Archives, August 2020, held in Find & Connect project files.
Prepared by: Melissa Downing
Created: 3 March 2011, Last modified: 17 August 2020
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00081b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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